Zareth Caldris shot back into the sky and landed atop the watchtower. His slightly trembling hand, holding back annoyance, moved to straighten his magic robe ruffled by the wind. He glared at Captain Cedric, who stood tense beside him.
"That Elf race..." Zareth grumbled while massaging his throbbing temples, "truly inherited the stubbornness of their ancestors. I will remain here to keep watch in case something goes beyond control."
Captain Cedric merely nodded in agreement, his eyes never leaving the open field below. His mind was filled with gloom.
Soon, the distance between the adventurer troops and the monsters would be too close. If that happened, area-of-effect magic could not be launched without injuring their own allies.
Seeing the front lines of Goblins and Dire Wolves beginning to aggressively close the distance toward the adventurer troops, Cedric knew he had to act immediately.
"Archers!" Cedric shouted with all his might, his voice cleaving the tension atop the walls. "Fire wave after wave! Now!"
Bowstrings were drawn in unison. The next second, the sky instantly darkened.
Swiiish...
Swiiish...
Hundreds of arrows shot through the air, whizzing down like a rain of death blocking out the sun.
That rain of arrows slammed into the front lines of Goblins without mercy.
Their frail, dwarfed bodies were pierced by arrows. Green blood spurted into the air, staining the grassy plain.
Those green-skinned monsters with crooked noses and ears shrieked in pain. Their fang-filled mouths gaped wide open. Dirty fingers with long nails clawed at the dirt in desperation before finally dying, sprawled out looking like arrow-filled porcupines.
On the front lines, Lorien watched the slaughter before him closely.
"Kieeeaaakk!"
"Gryaaaarrgh!"
The piercing shrieks and howls from the Goblins pierced by arrows and falling became beautiful music to Lorien's ears. The burden on the adventurer troops was drastically reduced in the first few seconds. The main path to pierce the monster formation toward the two-headed Ogre was now wide open.
Smelling the scent of death and seeing hundreds of Goblins dying helplessly on the ground, the common sense of the amateur adventurers behind Lorien instantly crumbled. Their eyes were filled with greed.
"Look at that! They are already dying! This is a massive harvest!" an adventurer in leather armor shouted, pointing excitedly at the pile of groaning monster bodies.
"The Monster Cores and those Goblin ears are mine! Don't anyone dare take my share!" another adventurer chimed in while drawing his axe, panting heavily.
To them, those piles of bloody bodies were not a threat, but rather piles of silver coins and loot materials waiting to be picked up.
"Quickly, grab the loot before another party steals it! Chaaarge!"
Without waiting for a cue or command from Lorien, the adventurer lines broke.
They ran ahead of Lorien. Weapons swung, slashing and stabbing the already dying Goblins on the ground to claim the hunt. The killing intent of hundreds of humans exploded, filling the air, transforming the open field into an arena scrambling for treasure.
Seeing the adventurers running wildly into the center of the arrow-fall zone, Captain Cedric's face flushed crimson. He slammed his fist hard against the edge of the stone parapet.
"Greedy bastards! Do those fools want to kill themselves?!" Cedric cursed, the veins in his neck bulging as he held back exploding anger. He immediately turned to the line of archers and shouted with all his might, "Cease fire!"
The rain of arrows was forced to halt to prevent bloodshed among their own. Now, due to their own greed, the adventurers on the battlefield completely lost their long-range fire support.
Ignoring the horde of amateur adventurers scattering to search for loot, Lorien maintained his sanity. He turned to his party with a sharp gaze.
"The Gilded Falcons, tighten the lines! Form the spearhead! Ignore your surroundings and follow my steps! We pierce the monster lines right this second!"
Responding to that command, the party immediately moved, locking into their combat positions. Lorien moved to lead at the tip of the formation. His longsword flashed with lethal precision.
"Forward! No one slows their pace!" he shouted amidst the swing of his sword. Every slash was clean, severing the heads of Goblins that dared leap at him. Lorien and his party kept moving forward, cleaving the sea of monsters without reducing their speed in the slightest.
At his sides, Barton the [Tank] and Klei the [Assassin] followed the rhythm of Lorien's steps perfectly.
"Hahaha! Keep moving forward! Let me crush their bones!" Barton exclaimed with a booming, excited laugh. The massive man raised his shield, as if wanting to immediately ram into the entire monster army.
"Focus on the formation, Barton. Do not waste energy just to yell," Klei reprimanded in a cold tone of voice. His hands spun gracefully, twirling his twin daggers.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Suddenly, the sound of heavy, rapid hoofbeats vibrated the ground ahead of them.
"Grraauuuuuu!"
A savage howl was heard following from behind the cloud of dust, breaking the noise of the battlefield.
From there, the Hobgoblin cavalry emerged.
These monsters were much taller and more muscular compared to their dwarfed Goblin relatives.
They rode giant gray-furred Dire Wolves, brandishing sharp-tipped wooden spears targeting directly at the heart of Lorien's party's defense.
Facing the threat of the fast-approaching cavalry, Lorien did not panic. His eyes scanned the monsters' trajectory within seconds.
"Barton! Ram them!" Lorien shouted, issuing the command. "Nita, protect Barton! Klei, clean up the rest!"
On the flank of the formation, Klei merely nodded slowly. His grip on the handles of his twin daggers tightened, preparing to execute his duty.
"Acknowledged, Captain!" Nita replied promptly.
The chain of instructions was executed flawlessly.
Nita immediately raised her staff and cast [Tier 2 - Protection].
A layer of transparent magical shielding instantly enveloped Barton's massive body.
"Hahaha! Shatter, all of you!" Barton's excited laugh echoed from behind his helmet.
The massive man raised his large steel shield and activated [Tier C - Charge]. The large man's body shot forward, defying momentum like a crazed bull.
Barton slammed into the foremost Hobgoblin cavalry like a meteor fragment. That collision crushed the monster's bones instantly. The incredibly brutal impact launched the Dire Wolf and its rider into the air.
As the monster was launched and lost its balance in mid-air, Lorien and Klei moved swiftly like shadows.
Klei's twin daggers flashed, cleanly slitting the airborne Hobgoblin's throat. Meanwhile, Lorien's sword thrust straight into the heart of the wolf falling to the ground. They swept the path clean without halting their steps whatsoever.
Amidst the heating rhythm of the slaughter, Lorien glanced slightly backward.
"Aeliana! Hold your magic!" Lorien commanded with a loud voice so it could be heard above the noise of war. "Save the rest of your mana solely for facing the two-headed Ogre later!"
Aeliana nodded obediently. However, when she lowered her magic staff and looked around, her romanticized image of heroic war that she had heard from the bards' songs crumbled, leaving nothing behind.
The air in the field felt hot. The metallic stench of blood stung her nose, triggering a wave of nausea. Upon the grassy earth that had now turned red, severed pieces of monster bodies were scattered.
What shook her soul the most was the sight on the flanks of the battle.
Several adventurers who had charged too greedily earlier targeting loot now faced horrific misfortune. Because they were separated far from the main lines, a group of Goblins pounced on their backs from their blind spots, pulling the bodies of those humans down to face-plant into the dirt.
"Help! Help me! Get this monster off—aaargh!"
"My leg! Please, someone save me!"
Those screams for help echoed back and forth full of desperation.
However, those voices quickly faded, drowned out by the sound of tearing flesh as those adventurers were bitten and torn alive by Goblin fangs amidst pools of their own blood.
Aeliana's breathing grew heavy. Her fingers trembled, gripping her wooden staff. War was not a beautiful hero's song, but rather a cruel slaughterhouse.
The open field outside the Wealden gates had now transformed into a slaughterhouse. The greed of the amateur adventurers was paid dearly with their own lives.
On the left flank of the battle, a stocky adventurer prepared to face the lunge of a Goblin. The veins in his body bulged tensely as he activated [Tier D - Skin Hardening]. In an instant, his skin turned gray, resembling the texture of solid stone.
A Goblin leaped at him, swinging its sharp nails right at the adventurer's arm.
The monster's sharp nails scratched the surface of the adventurer's arm, triggering an ear-piercing squeak. However, that attack completely failed to pierce his defense, leaving only a shallow scratch in the form of a thin white line upon his stone skin.
The adventurer grinned widely, underestimating the threat before him.
"Hahaha! Is this all the strength a Goblin has?!" the adventurer mocked with an arrogant tone. He swung his sword without hesitation, cleaving the Goblin's chest until it died instantly.
"Come at me, all of you! Your weak scratches will never be able to pierce my stone skin—"
However, that arrogant sentence and victorious smile only lasted one second.
From his blind spot on the right, a Hobgoblin lunged forward at full speed. The tip of a wooden spear shot straight, slamming hard into the adventurer's stomach. The massive momentum of the cavalry attack cleaved the air and forcefully pierced the layer of the adventurer's hardened skin.
The massive cavalry thrust shattered the wooden spear shaft. The spearhead forcefully pierced the layer of the adventurer's stone skin, tearing his vital organs.
The adventurer's eyes bulged wide. His pride crumbled without a trace, replaced by terror and burning pain.
"H-how... is this p-possible... my skin..." the adventurer groaned brokenly, staring at his own stomach with a look of disbelief.
He vomited clumps of fresh blood. His stocky body staggered for a moment fighting off death, then collapsed face-down, lifeless upon a pool of his own blood.
The deaths occurring in various corners instantly triggered mass terror.
A young man in leather armor nearby lost his sanity. His eyes widened in horror seeing his comrade devoured alive by a swarm of Goblins.
"No... no, this is insane! I don't want to die here!" he babbled with a trembling voice and ragged breath.
Choked by gripping panic, he threw his sword to the ground. The young man crawled backward, tears of terror wetting his face.
"I have to go home... let me go home!" he cried hysterically.
He then turned around and ran with all his might away from the front lines, abandoning his party.
But on a battlefield, turning your back to the enemy is the most certain invitation to death.
A flashing shadow caught up from behind. The Hobgoblin cavalry spurred their Dire Wolf mount savagely. The Hobgoblin rider merely snorted, underestimating his prey, then executed a casual thrust.
"Agh—!"
The young man's scream was cut off instantly. The tip of the wooden spear shot through the fleeing young man's back until it tore through his chest. His body was launched and fell crashing into the dirt like a broken doll.
In stark contrast to the chaos of the amateurs, The Gilded Falcons party cleaved the sea of monsters like a lethal dagger.
Barton's steps on the very front line were unshakable.
The massive man became a living wall of steel. The tower shield in his hand blocked every spear thrust and wolf's jaw bite without sustaining a single dent.
"Stay behind me! I will not let a single one of these monsters touch you! Wahahaha..." Barton exclaimed. He pressed forward, pushing back the wave of monsters with his massive strength.
Behind Barton's protection, Klei melted his form into the surface of the ground. He used [Tier C - Shadow Step].
In a flash, his form appeared right in Lorien's blind spot.
"Behind you, Captain," Klei warned briefly. His twin daggers crossed swiftly, slitting the throat of a Hobgoblin trying to ambush Lorien from the shadows.
"Focus forward! Keep moving and do not slow your pace!" Lorien commanded firmly, leading the rhythm of the slaughter.
In the same second, Lorien twisted his hips responding to a threat from the front. He used [Tier C - Swift Blade].
Lorien's longsword whirred sharply. A silver flash cleaved the air, severing the heads of three Hobgoblins in a single breath without reducing the speed of his steps in the slightest. Their teamwork guarded the core of the formation with absolute perfection.
Inside the center of that protective formation, Aeliana obeyed Lorien's instructions. She held the remaining mana in her body tightly, not casting a single spell whatsoever.
However, threats on a battlefield do not always come from places clearly visible.
A Hobgoblin whose leg had been severed crawled silently across a pile of corpses. The monster slipped into a blind spot in the formation, extending its blood-soaked claws to reach the hem of Nita's robe.
Aeliana's eyes caught the movement.
"Nita, watch out below you!" Aeliana screamed a warning quickly.
Without the slightest hesitation, Aeliana spun the wooden staff in her hand. She swung the blunt end of the staff hard, smashing the monster's skull before its claws could even touch Nita.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Hearing the warning scream and the sound of the hard impact, Nita immediately looked down. Her eyes widened in shock seeing the monster now lying dead near her feet.
"Thank you, Aeliana," Nita said with a hitched breath, nodding quickly at the Elf girl. "I almost dropped my guard."
Far behind the ranks of the advancing monsters, the two-headed Ogre halted its steps.
The four-meter-tall creature towered terrifyingly like a tower of flesh and muscle. Its massive body was only covered by a piece of filthy cloth tied haphazardly. Its right head was bald with a tangled beard, while its left head had long hair but not a single hair on its face. The creature's right hand tightly gripped a giant mace made from an entire tree trunk.
Both heads stared at the battlefield before them with purple eyes radiating madness.
Instead of swinging its mace and charging forward to crush the human front lines, the long-haired head began to visualize the arrangement of a magic circle.
The air temperature around it spiked drastically. A blazing red magic circle formed rapidly in front of its free palm. Heat energy gathered.
[Tier 3 - Fireball].
A fireball the size of a human head shot fast, cleaving the battlefield.
BOOOM...
A deafening explosion erupted as the ball slammed right into the middle of the crowd of fighting adventurers.